1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to vehicle assembly tooling and more particularly to a tool for aligning a door striker to a vehicle body.
2. Discussion
Despite widespread use of striker positioning fixtures, variations in the various components which affect striker alignment have not eliminated the need to manually verify and adjust the alignment of a striker structure to a latch mechanism. Many of the tools currently in use employ locating details that wear and effect the overall alignment between a striker structure and a latch mechanism. Further, many of these tools are based on nominal dimensions and lack the capability to be readily adjusted to accommodate for variances in the vehicle being produced and/or to improve the robustness of the tool. Consequently, vehicle manufacturers expend tremendous amounts of labor to measure the alignment between the striker and a latch mechanism, and to adjust the alignment of the striker when it is determined to be out of position.
To gage the alignment between a striker and a latch mechanism, a technician will repeatedly open and close a vehicle door to "feel" whether the striker is dragging on the latch mechanism. This process is heavily dependent upon the skill and experience of the technician and several iterations of unfastening, moving, refastening and rechecking are typically necessary to obtain satisfactory alignment.
Despite the effort that vehicle manufacturers expend to achieve proper alignment between a striker and a latch mechanism, complaints regarding improperly aligned strikers are relatively frequent. Consequently, there remains a need in the art for a tool for aligning a striker to a latch mechanism that provides more accurate results.